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- Category: September 2021
Nicotine—whether smoked or vaped—has a vasoconstrictive effect on the body, meaning it shrinks and tightens blood vessels and reduces the amount of blood that can flow through them. Since an erection depends on strong blood flow to happen, smoking can potentially lead to erectile dysfunction (ED).
This article will discuss how smoking works against a healthy erection and offer tips for how to improve your overall and sexual healt
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- Category: September 2021
Increasing the cost of cigarettes in the Budget may not lead to an increased tax take as smokers turn to cheaper tobacco products from other countries, as well as e-cigrarettes, the Revenue Commissioners have warned.
A strategy paper prepared by the Department of Finance looks at the impact of adding extra taxes to packets of cigarettes or roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco.
It says: “The Revenue Commissioners have expressed a view that increases in excise may not lead to increased yields, as higher cigarette prices in Ireland could reduce demand due to greater incentives to purchase non-Irish duty paid tobacco products [...]
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- Category: September 2021
For the first time in 25 years, rates of smoking among teenage boys in Ireland are increasing, according to a study published in ERJ Open Research. [1]
The study also shows that rates of vaping among teenagers have risen in the last four years and that teenagers who use e-cigarettes are more likely to smoke.
The researchers say their findings indicate that Ireland will not meet its targets to reduce smoking rates and they add to evidence that vaping could be promoting a new generation of young people addicted to nicotine.
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- Category: September 2021
Cigarette giant Philip Morris International has taken control of UK inhaler maker Vectura despite objections from health care charities.
The producer of Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes said in a statement on Thursday that it had secured nearly 75% of Vectura's shares, making it the majority shareholder. More than 45% of Vectura shareholders accepted the takeover offer, and Philip Morris international purchased 29% of the company's shares on the open market.
"We have reached an important milestone in our acquisition of Vectura," Jacek Olczak, CEO of Philip Morris International (PM), said in a statement. [...]
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- Category: September 2021
Health advocates have reiterated that vapes are not a safe alernative to smoking cigarettes.
According to Philippine College of Physicians president Maricar Limpin, those who want to quit smoking should not shift to vapes, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products.
“There is no truth that these electronic smoking devices are safe. These are also harmful to people’s health,” Limpin said in a phone interview. A survey commissioned by Vapers PH showed that nine in 10 Filipino smokers wanted a law that would encourage them to switch to less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.
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- Category: September 2021
Nine of ten Filipino smokers believe that the government should pass laws to encourage them to switch to less harmful alternatives to cigarettes, according to a survey recently conducted by an Asian research network. The study, conducted by ACORN Marketing & Research Consultants and commissioned by consumer advocacy group Vapers PH, reveals that 94 percent of 2,000 respondents agree that the government should enact policies to encourage adult smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives to cigarettes, while also ensuring these products are not used by the youth or those below 18 years.
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- Category: September 2021
On September 14, Bidi Vapor, one of the largest disposable vape producers in the United States, announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had ordered all of its products except tobacco flavors to be removed from the market. This marketing denial order (MDO) included its menthol flavor, “Arctic.”
Bidi believes that particular decision to be a mistake on the FDA’s part, and is currently exploring next steps to address the situation.
“It looks like FDA is making a mistake in many, many cases,” said Azim Chowdhury, a partner at the law firm Keller and Heckman, where he advises Bidi and other clients on nicotine regulations. [...]
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- Category: September 2021
Tobacco and nicotine products maker Swedish Match plans to spin off its U.S. cigar business to shareholders and list it on the stock market, the company said. A spin-off would mean that Swedish Match, which sold its cigarette business in 1999, exits the combustible tobacco products segments. “Swedish Match has initiated preparations for a separation and a subsequent listing on a major U.S. securities exchange,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. “The separation is expected to be completed during the second half of 2022, at the earliest.”
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- Category: September 2021
The Health ministry will take into account the recommendations in implementing laws to ban e-cigarettes in order to build a tobacco-free country, said Lokman Hossain Mia, senior secretary of the health services department, during a meeting on Sunday. Lokman Hossain Mia said, "The health ministry has already taken some steps, such as a draft roadmap to build a tobacco-free Bangladesh. Hopefully, further initiatives will be taken to finalise it soon."
"The use of an emerging tobacco product called e-cigarette is increasing day by day which is alarming. E-cigarettes are just as harmful to health as conventional cigarettes. [...]
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- Category: September 2021
Exposure to passive smoke has had a harmful effect on the health of many people, hence the need to reinforce Executive Order 26 titled “Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-Free Environments in Public and Enclosed Places.”
Former Health Secretary Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan, a trustee of HealthJustice Philippines, said EO 26, which was further expanded to include e-cigarettes in EO 106, will help prevent the spread of Covid-19 in certain public places which have been dubbed by Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) officials as “hot spots” of transmission.
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- Category: September 2021
A new documentary by The New York Times traces the e-cigarette maker on its path from fledgling start-up to Silicon Valley juggernaut and, eventually, public health villain. Adam Bowen and James Monsees, by their own telling, set out to improve the lives of a billion people by getting them off cigarettes.
But somewhere on the path from fledgling start-up to Silicon Valley juggernaut, their company, Juul, went tragically off course. Instead of upending Big Tobacco and hastening the end of smoking, Juul’s flavored e-cigarettes became a popular on-ramp for a new generation of nicotine addicts.
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- Category: September 2021
We often hear that drug prohibition is destined to fail. Specifically, that means that allowing no legal access to a substance people want to use—as opposed to tailoring regulations to limit youth access or certain forms of potentially harmful use—will fail.
In the US drug policy space, we are currently witnessing the decriminalization of drugs like heroin and cocaine and the ongoing legalization of marijuana. Despite many obstacles left to overcome, there is a gathering consensus that the criminalization of drug use is inherently wrong, that it produces negative public health outcomes like the overdose crisis, [...]
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- Category: September 2021
Anti-tobacco and health groups have called on the government to introduce the long-awaited Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill – or to at least process the bill to Cabinet by the end of 2021.
This follows recent reports by a tobacco watchdog and the BBC implicating multinational tobacco group British American Tobacco (BAT) in using ‘shady tactics’ to promote cigarette use in South Africa.
The Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill is expected to regulate the use, marketing, and sales of e-cigarettes or vapes in South Africa. These products are currently operating in a legislative vacuum.
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- Category: September 2021
Public health practitioners are used to frustration and disappointment. Until recently, calls to introduce evidence-based interventions to improve health, such as sugary drink taxes and controls on alcohol marketing, have been mostly ignored or have foundered due to political timidity in the face of lobbying by powerful vested interests. Public health gains have mostly been modest and infrequent.
However, it seems the times may be changing. [...] Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall has proposed a plan to achieve the Smokefree Aotearoa goal of having minimal numbers of New Zealanders smoking by 2025. [...]
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- Category: September 2021
It's been a rough couple of weeks for the vaping industry.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) let a deadline for authorizing vape products pass without having processed millions of pending applications—effectively making those products illegal to sell. Then on Monday, House Democrats unveiled a funding plan for their $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill that would impose steep new excise taxes on nicotine-containing vaping liquid for the first time.
The hope is that new taxes on vaping products—alongside massive rate increases on traditional cigarettes—will bring in $96 billion in revenue while deterring people from using either.
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- Category: September 2021
We all know the risks of tobacco abuse: Science has been quite clear that it’s not great. But science has also shown that innovative, safer alternatives to cigarettes can limit negative externalities on health and the environment. Even so, regardless of evidence, local and international institutions are fighting against vaping — and it has terribly negative consequences on public health, the environment, and the economy. The number of adult smokers in the world has decreased—from 23.5 percent in 2007 to 19 percent today—and that number is expected to be as low as 17 percent in 2030. [...]
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- Category: September 2021
SEN. Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Go stressed the need for stronger regulatory oversight of consumer goods, such as vapes and electronic cigarettes, that emit "toxic substances" to protect the public's health.
He urged the Senate to carefully consider the potential impacts of e-cigarettes on people's health so evidence-based policies and programs can be developed during deliberations on Senate Bill 1951, which seeks to regulate the importation, manufacture, sale, packaging, distribution, use, advertisement, promotion and sponsorship of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS).
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- Category: September 2021
In this SPOTLIGHT series, Aaron Biebert (Director - A Billion Lives, You Don’t Know Nicotine) has detailed the potential consequences, both intended and not, of the restrictive, prohibition-like regulations proposed by Health Canada regarding alternative nicotine products. While all of the consequences described present varying levels of inherent harm, none may be more deadly than an unregulated black market.
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- Category: September 2021
Internationally, smoking prevalence among people in prison custody (ie, people on remand awaiting trial, awaiting sentencing, or serving a custodial sentence) is high. In Scotland, all prisons implemented a comprehensive smoke-free policy in 2018 after a 16-month anticipatory period. In this study, we aimed to use data on medication dispensing to assess the impact of this policy on cessation support, health outcomes, and potential unintended consequences among people in prison custody.
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- Category: September 2021
British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd (BAT Malaysia) unveiled its new four-pillar sustainability strategy today, where the mission of harm reduction will be a priority for the group.
BAT Malaysia legal and external affairs director Nicholas Booth said the key focus on harm reduction is being able to provide a range of harm-reducing products that are less risky than traditional tobacco products.
"At the moment, with the way the regulations are, the most popular is nicotine vaping which is illegal to sell.